Sunday, June 13, 2010

Radical gratefulness

Artist: Peter Paul Rubens

I really like the following way of summing up this morning's gospel reading. (It's from a blog called "Contemplative Viewfinder"):

There was a woman who made a scene over Jesus when he was eating lunch at the house of a friend named Simon. (Luke 7:36) She cried and her tears wet his feet. She dried his feet with her hair. She poured perfume on them.

Simon told Jesus this was inappropriate. He was probably right. There’s a time and a place for everything, you know. Jesus’ answer: Simon, you’ve not even showed me basic hospitality in your own home, but this woman’s gratitude has caused her to do what you think is inappropriate. She’s just grateful. Leave her alone.

-- Melissa Bane Sevier

How wonderful to experience such gratitude that a person is able to be this "over the top". There's a humor website I recently discovered called "Overkill 9000". It's subtitled "Everything in excess, including excess!" I like it because, oddly enough, sometimes too much of something is exactly what it takes to jar us into waking up, to capture our attention about what is real, what is necessary. Today's gospel reading is a good example of exactly how this can work.
~~~

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